The present invention relates to a system for automatically processing and printing the contents and the format of a text, comprising an input device for entering characters to be printed, a printing apparatus for printing the said characters in different printing lines, a storage unit for recording the said characters on a magnetic tape, the said tape being subdivided into a plurality of blocks, each block being identified by an address and being adapted to contain one line of print or writing.
In a secretarial office the need is keenly felt for an automatic printing system which will enable typewritten texts to be recorded so as then to be able to print them at high speed without mistakes and suitably processed, so that the printed text is made up perfectly into a page or pages with the headings centred and the lines of print justified.
In fact, an automatic printing system of this kind shortens the time required for typing a text several times, for example for personalized standard letters, since it does away with the time needed for turning out the same text several times. Moreover, since it is very frequently necessary in an office to send standard letters or circular letters which differ from one another only as regards the address or a few lines of writing, the need arises for an automatic printing system which will compose the various previously recorded parts of the text in the desired sequence.
Various automatic printing systems are known in which a text is printed in the form of a draft or proof and at the same time recorded on a punched tape. In one of these known systems, the text is corrected after the printing and the corrections are entered in the draft or proof so that the operator can identify them. To correct the text recorded on the tape, the operator commands the reading of the text from the punched tape and simultaneous printing on a printing sheet. He then stops the printing of the draft at the points where the various corrections are inserted; in this way, the text is re-recorded in the correct form on the punched tape, to be then printed.
An automatic printing system of this kind has the drawback that the operator cannot gain access to any point of the text to make a correction, since it is necessary to reprint the whole text each time up to the point at which the error appears. In this way, correction is very laborious and lengthy.
Another automatic printing system is known in which the data are introduced through the medium of a keyboard into the store of a central processor located at a certain distance and are visually displayed on a cathode ray screen. The operator can amend the visually displayed text by actuating suitable keys of the keyboard; in this way, the contents of the store of the central processor are altered. When the text is then to be printed, the processor supplies the coded characters of the correct text to the typewriter.
This printing system, however, has the disadvantage of being costly owing to the necessity for being connected to a processor. Moreover, the length of the lines of print, the margins, the insertions and cancellations or erasures are difficult for the operator to control inasmuch as they are linked to the programme of the central processor.
Finally, there is known another automatic printing system, also connected to a processor, comprising a keyboard, a cathode ray screen for visual display of the data, and a working store. The printed text is visually displayed and recorded in the working store. The operator then makes the corrections on the spot and when the text is complete it is transferred to the central processor, which retransmits it at the operator's request for printing.
This printing system also has the disadvantage of being costly in practice, owing to the difficulty of access to the correction points. Moreover, in this system there is the drawback of not being able to change easily the extent of the amendments to be made in the text inasmuch as they are recorded in the programme of the processor.
One technical problem that the automatic printing system according to the invention proposes to solve is that of creating an independently functioning printing system in which it is possible to gain access easily to any point whatsoever of a text for the purpose of inserting one or more amendments and in which these amendments can easily be selected and varied.
In a secretarial office the need very frequently arises to be able to have available a record which can be consulted easily and rapidly, for the purpose of avoiding waste of time due to manual searching for documents. Moreover, the need arises for socalled "cross-indexing", that is the recording or filing of the documents under different key words according to circumstances. For example, documents may be filed under three key words such as: "serial number", "date of issue of the document" and "number of matter". During the search, if it is necessary to retrieve all the documents issued on one and the same day, the key word "date of issue" is used, whereas if it is necessary to retrieve all the documents relating to one and the same matter the key word "number of matter" is used. Of course, it must be possible for the various key words to be chosed by the user in relation to his own document filing and search requirements; for example, the filing or indexing key words will be different if the system according to the invention is used in a personnel office or in an accounts office.
A document filing and search system as known which comprises a central processor connected to a series of terminal units. The key words relating to the individual documents are recorded by the operator in a programme contained in a store of the central processor. When the operator wishes to search for a document, he transmits the data relating to the document to the central processor through the medium of a terminal unit connected thereto. The central processor then carries out the search and transmits the result to the terminal unit, which arranges visual display of the result of the search on a screen or on a sheet of paper. A system of the type described has, however, the disadvantage of not being independent, since it requires the use of a central processor, and of being very costly because of the cost of purchasing or renting the central processor itself. This system moreover has the disadvantage that the key words relating to a given file are recorded in a given programme of the computer and therefore if the user desires to obtain another file he must change the computer programme, so that it is necessary to employ a skilled technician for recording the data relating to the new file.
There is moreover known another information search system in which the information is recorded on microfilms. When the operator desires to search for a document, he communicates to the central processor the key words relating to the desired document; the processor carries out the search and transmits the number of the document, so that the operator can access the microfilm. A system of the type described has, in addition to the disadvantage of requiring the use of a processor, also that of requiring an apparatus for projecting microfilms, as a result of which it is uneconomic.
Another technical problem that the present invention proposes to solve is that of providing an automatic information filing and search system which is independent and not connected to a central processor, in which a file and the key words relating thereto can be amended easily by an unskilled operator by means of the use of a typewriter, and in which the result of the search appears directly printed on a sheet of paper at the end of the search itself.